Hawaii, Big Island
Tuesday February 18th, 2003

We arrive in Pahoa, half way around the Big Island, and visit Sumland looking for friends who live there. No one is home at Sumland when we get there, except Ryan, who decides to come with us on our search for hot lava. We hear news that all roads into the Volcanoes National Park are closed due to fires caused by flowing lava from Kilauea. So with Ryan as our guide, Bill drove us out to this former lava viewing area where we hoped to glance at hot lava on the cliffs in the distance. On the road to this location we saw homes that had been engulfed by former lava flows, and people living in vehicles and tents on the barren lava landscape. It was surreal. We ignored the sign below because we were "residents of the immediate area", at least for now. The path over the lava was clearly marked with 4 foot white polls. We wore closed toe shoes for protection and brought flashlights and jackets for the return hike after sundown. We hiked out over the lava field about 45 minutes. Our timing was perfect, the sun was just going down when we got to the end of the marked trail. This barricade marks the location of the former viewing platform. We hoped to see hot lava flowing on the cliffs in the distance. They say that you can't see it in daylight, you have to wait 'til after sunset to see the red hot lava. But, even with binoculars, we were unable to see any. I was disappointed, but we had really done our best to see some. This strange landscape was still quite a sight to behold. Bill's looking thoughtful about the lava. Pahoehoe lava The lava reflected all the colors in the sunset, it was beautiful. Becky in Bill's van.

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